Proposal

APrIGF 2026 Session Proposal Submission Form
Part 1 - Lead Organizer
Contact Person
Mr. Yong Hao Choo
Email
Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate) *
Digital Prosperity Asia
Designation
Partnerships Lead
Gender
Male
Economy of Residence
Singapore
Stakeholder Group
Private Sector
Part 2 - Session Proposal
Session Title
From Compliance to Confidence: How Asia's Startups Are Shaping the Future of AI Governance
Thematic Track of Your Session

  • Option

    • Primary: AI Governance for Good
    • Secondary: Digital Resilience and Building of Trust
Session Format
Fireside Chat (30 minutes)
Where do you plan to organize your session?
Hybrid (with onsite moderator and speakers both online and offline, with online moderator for questions and comments from remote participants)
Specific Issues for Discussion
Asia Pacific has some of the world's most dynamic startup ecosystems, but the region's AI governance landscape is fragmenting rapidly with over a dozen national frameworks emerging across APAC often with differing requirements on transparency, data localisation, algorithmic accountability, and risk classification. Small and medium-sized digital businesses are bearing the brunt of this complexity. Unlike large multinationals with dedicated compliance teams, startups are trying to keep up with little bandwidth to spare, and the cost shows up in slower growth and lost market opportunities across borders.

Drawing on DPA's recent study across India, Malaysia, and South Korea, this fireside chat will examine three concrete issues:
1. First, the compliance burden asymmetry: how regulatory design choices particularly around documentation requirements, conformity assessments, and extraterritorial reach create structural disadvantages for smaller innovators relative to large incumbents, potentially locking in the dominance of large incumbents rather than opening up space for smaller players.
2. Second, the trust deficit and how to close it: what specific governance mechanisms, such as regulatory sandboxes, common audit frameworks, and mutual recognition arrangements, have meaningfully built user and business confidence in AI systems in APAC, and what can other economies learn from these examples.
3. Third, the governance gap in emerging markets: how APAC economies at earlier stages of digital development, with less regulatory capacity and smaller domestic markets, can participate meaningfully in shaping AI governance norms rather than simply receiving frameworks designed elsewhere, and what role coalitions and multistakeholder processes play in amplifying these voices.
Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF
This session speaks directly to APrIGF 2026's Sub-theme 2 (AI Governance for Good) and Sub-theme 3 (Digital Resilience and Building of Trust), addressing the intersection of responsible AI development, regulatory readiness, and the economic conditions necessary for inclusive digital growth.

This session makes a deliberate stakeholder diversity contribution to the APrIGF programme. The private sector and in particular small and growing digital businesses are systematically underrepresented in internet governance discussions, which tend to centre the perspectives of governments, large technology platforms, and civil society organisations. Yet small businesses are simultaneously the users, deployers, and subjects of AI governance frameworks: they are the entities most directly shaped by regulatory design choices, and the least equipped to influence them. Bringing this voice into the APrIGF conversation is itself a meaningful contribution to the forum's multistakeholder mission.

The discussion is anchored in DPA's research across India, Malaysia, and South Korea, so the conversation stays grounded in what businesses are actually experiencing on the ground. The findings speak to how regulatory choices play out for real businesses, and we hope they offer the forum useful, APAC-grounded material that can feed into broader norm-setting conversations, including WSIS+20.

The session is structured to invite audience participation at two points rather than reserving engagement solely for the end. This is deliberate. AI governance is a lived experience for many attendees, and pausing the conversation at two points gives the audience a chance to add their own perspectives while the discussion is still live, rather than reacting to something that has already wrapped up.
Methodology / Agenda (Please add rows by clicking "+" on the right)
Time frame (e.g. 5 minutes, 20 minutes, should add up to the time limit of your selected session format) Description
3 mins Introduction and scene-setting by facilitator/moderator.
4 mins High-level overview of position points.
8 mins Facilitator/moderator-led conversation on issues 1 and 2: compliance burden asymmetry for smaller businesses, and governance mechanisms that build trust in AI systems.
4 mins First audience interaction.
6 mins Facilitator/moderator-led conversation on issue 3: how emerging APAC economies can shape AI governance norms, and the role of multistakeholder processes in amplifying underrepresented voices.
5 mins Second audience interaction.
Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible) - (Required)

  • Moderator (Primary)

    • Stakeholder Group: Select One
    • Expected Presence: Select One
    • Status of Confirmation: Select One

  • Moderator (Facilitator)

    • Stakeholder Group: Select One
    • Expected Presence: Select One
    • Status of Confirmation: Select One

  • Speaker 1

    • Name: Koh Liang Wei
    • Organization: Digital Prosperity Asia
    • Designation: Head of Policy
    • Gender: Male
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Singapore
    • Stakeholder Group: Private Sector
    • Expected Presence: Online
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://www.linkedin.com/in/kohliangwei/

  • Speaker 2

    • Stakeholder Group: Select One
    • Expected Presence: Select One
    • Status of Confirmation: Select One

  • Speaker 3

    • Stakeholder Group: Select One
    • Expected Presence: Select One
    • Status of Confirmation: Select One

  • Speaker 4

    • Stakeholder Group: Select One
    • Expected Presence: Select One
    • Status of Confirmation: Select One

  • Speaker 5

    • Stakeholder Group: Select One
    • Expected Presence: Select One
    • Status of Confirmation: Select One
Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session.
Liang Wei serves as Head of Policy for the Digital Prosperity for Asia (DPA) Coalition, where he leads the coalition's regional policy engagement on digital economy and AI governance across Southeast Asia. Before joining the private sector, he spent several years across Singapore's public service, including the Ministry of Trade and Industry where he worked on cross-border trade and Southeast Asia economic policy, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore where he served in the Green Fintech Office and the Sustainability Group's Capabilities, Enablers and Partnerships division. That background across trade policy and financial regulation means he has seen firsthand how the rules governments write end up shaping, or constraining, what businesses can actually do. Through DPA, he now works directly with smaller digital businesses across the region and understands the practical difficulties they face trying to keep pace with AI governance requirements that differ from market to market.
If you need assistance to find a suitable speaker to contribute to your session, or an onsite facilitator for your online-only session, please specify your request with details of what you are looking for.
We are seeking a female facilitator/moderator (if possible) from the APAC region (outside Singapore) for this fireside chat who can be present in person at the venue in Kathmandu. This would help ensure the session reflects both gender balance and geographic diversity across its two contributors. Ideally, we are looking for someone who knows the AI governance and digital policy space in APAC, is comfortable facilitating discussions in a multistakeholder setting, and can draw out a practitioner's perspective in conversation rather than just running through prepared questions. We would genuinely welcome any suggestions from the Secretariat or MSG members. We are happy to work with whoever the community thinks would be a good fit. Once a moderator is confirmed, we are committed to doing the prep work together, aligning on questions, flow, and how to best engage the audience on the day.
Has AI been used to develop this proposal?
Yes
How:
AI was used to refine the English phrasing and improve clarity, while the ideas, content, argument, and structure are my own.
Please declare if you have any potential conflict of interest with the Program Committee 2026.
No
Are you or other session contributors planning to apply for the APrIGF Fellowship Program 2026?
No
Upon evaluation by the Program Committee, your session proposal may only be selected under the condition that you will accept the suggestion of merging with another proposal with similar topics. Please state your preference below:
Yes, I am willing to work with another session proposer on a suggested merger.
Number of Attendees (Please fill in numbers)
    Gender Balance in Moderators/Speakers (Please fill in numbers)
      Consent
      I agree that my data can be submitted to forms.for.asia and processed by APrIGF organizers for the program selection of APrIGF 2026.